


all's well

by bea_watford



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: F/M, Lots of Crying, M/M, TW: Mention of Abuse, spent all saturday working on this because i'm fucking stoopid, v angsty
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-23
Updated: 2019-03-23
Packaged: 2019-11-28 21:32:04
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,549
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18213899
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bea_watford/pseuds/bea_watford
Summary: Jonathan and Steve have formed a bond like no other. They compliment each other in ways that Joyce has never seen Jonathan have with another person. They make each other happy. So, when the two are faced with issues, they help each other through them, even if that means kissing someone to get them to calm down.





	all's well

Before all of this, Steve and Jonathan were nothing but people passing each other in the hallway. Jonathon guessed this is what things were supposed to be like after that same guys shows up to your house while you and your little brother’s best friend’s older sister (sheesh) are trying to summon this monster from an alternate reality, dimension, whatever you wanted to call it. 

It was still weird. 

And, now the two are practically inseparable.

They have habits together. For instance, Steve would come over to the Byers’s residence after school every day to study or just hang out with Jonathan. Or, Steve and Jonathan seeing the movie they fawned over for weeks whenever the trailer played during a commercial break. In fact, they saw the Goonies to celebrate the end of their junior year.

While Will used the party to inspire his drawings, Jonathan used Steve as a recurring theme in his advanced photography class’s final portfolio.

“Found a muse, yes?” His teacher has said. 

“Sort of.” His teacher only smiled, moving her glasses back to their normal resting place on the bridge of her nose. 

But now, summer was starting, and the two were still sitting in Jonathan’s room, listening to the radio and talking about whatever the hell was on their minds.

“Wanna go out and do something?” Steve suggested. “Go climb a tree. Ride some bikes. Get ice cream.” Steve said, smiling. “It’s summer, Johnny boy! Let’s get out of this house!” Steve lead the charge out of Jonathon’s bedroom and into his car, sliding into the passenger seat. 

“Only rule,” Jonathan said. “My driving, my music.” Jonathan said, sliding in a cassette as Steve groaned. “Don’t worry, it’s lighter than my normal stuff.” 

He wasn’t lying, either. As they pulled out, Voices Carry began to play. 

“Didn’t I show you this song?” Steve asked, turning the dial up and his window down, letting the music flow out of the car and into the summer air.

“Yes, you did. It’s not half bad, Stevie.”   
“Thank you, John.” 

They drove down mainstreet, cruising right along to the lakefront. Jonathan still had bad feelings towards the lake. Of course, every reason for it had been fabricated, twisted, lied abou-

“We going for a swim?” Steve laughed, noticing Jonathan’s uneasiness. “What’s going on up there?” Steve said, reaching over and intertwining his fingers with the hairs at the nape of Jonathan’s neck. 

“I just keep thinking. About that night. When they said they found him.” Jonathan took a shaky breath, holding back tears. “Mom wouldn’t stop crying or yelling at Hopper. God, Stevie.” Jonathan let the tears slip, quickly wiping at the with the back of his hand. “It was so bad.” 

Steve was looking at him, laser focused on Jonathon and everything coming out of his mouth. “I’m so sorry, Jonathan.” Jonathan only nodded. “But, it’s better now, right? I mean, Will hasn’t had an episode in ages, Hopper actually adopted El, you’re okay, I’m okay.” Steve let out a long breath. “Right?” 

“Yeah, yeah, you’re right.” 

“It’s okay to be sad remembering, but it’s all fine now. All of it. Well, most of it.” Steve let out a small chuckled and pulled Jonathan into a hug, which wasn’t hard to do, considering his new car had a three seater front. “It’s fine. We’re okay. Will’s okay. Mom’s okay. We’re all alright.” He said as he rubbed circles into Jonathan’s back.

The two pulled apart, both teary-eyed. Jonathan looked at Steve, and recognized the shirt he was wearing. It was a Clash shirt, and it was oddly familiar. Besides, Steve didn’t even listen to the Clash. 

“Is that my shirt?” Jonathan asked. Steve looked down at the shirt, studying it for a moment.

“Yeah, yeah, I guess it is.” Steve laughed. “I guess after my shower this morning I just picked up a random shirt.” Steve looked back to Jonathan, who was grinning ear to ear. “You don’t mind, right?” 

“No, not one bit. You look good in it. Not your typical fuckin Izod shirts.” 

“Hey, I’ll have you know those shirts are soft as hell.” Steve said, opening the car door. “C’mon.” They walked to the edge of the lake, which was gleaming from the light of the sun. The water was weirdly blue, considering how dirty the lake normally is. 

The two made their way to the patio that hung over the lake. They sat on the concrete patio, swinging their legs over the lake like they were nine year olds, chatting about how much they were looking forward to senior year. 

“Where do you think you’re going to college?” Jonathan asked. 

“I have no idea. Probably somewhere local, considering the kids.” Jonathan nodded in agreement. “God, I just-” Steve ran a hand through his hair. 

“They’re kids. And I feel so obligated to do everything to keep them safe, even though I know they won’t be, no matter how hard I try to protect them.” Steve took a shake breath. “I don’t know. I just really want them to be okay and everyone to be fucking safe but they’re all so goddamn self sacrificing, you know that?”

Jonathan only nodded. He was an amazing listener. 

“They have each other. And they’ll always have me. I have to be there for them.” Steve said with a finality. “So, yeah. Local.” 

“You know what I think?” Steve looked to Jonathan, sniffling a little bit. He covered jonathan’s hand with his own, making Jonathan’s stomach flutter and his cheeks flush pink. “I think you’re a damn good babysitter and you do everything you can to make these kids’s journey through whatever kind of hellscape they’re living in just a little bit brighter, a little bit safer, a little bit better. You got a heart made of gold, Stevie.” 

The two sat in silence for a bit, just absorbing the sunshine, enjoying each other’s presence and knowing they were being the best they could be in that moment.

After a while, they made their way back into town, their tears dried. 

“Hey, can we stop by my place? I wanna grab my stuff if I’m staying over again.” 

“Say no more.” Jonathan said, flipping on his turn signal to head downtown.

They pulled into Steve’s driveway, and he asked him to wait in the car while he went inside.  
“I’ll only be a few minutes.”

“I haven’t stepped foot in your house in weeks, Harrington. I’m coming in with you. I miss your striped walls.” Jonathan said with a smile.

“Fine.” Steve obliged, opening his front door for Jonathan. “But don’t complain when we’re in and out in two minutes.”

“Steve?” A woman’s voice echoed down the hallway, coming from the kitchen. “Is that you?”

“Yeah, Ma. Me and Jonathan are here to pick up some of my stuff. I’m going to his place again tonight.” His mother emerged from the kitchen, followed closely by his father. Steve swallowed dryly. “Dad! I-I didn’t know you were home, your car wasn’t in the driveway.” 

“Son, I think it’s best if you stay here tonight. You’ve been out and about with this Byers kid,” Mr. Harrington spat out Jonathan’s last name like it was acid in his mouth. “All the dan time. We’ve hardly seen you in weeks. You’re staying home tonight.” Jonathan looked to Steve, who was standing on the third step on the staircase leading to the second floor, hanging on loosely to the post holding up the railing. 

“Sorry, Dad, this was arranged months ago, we’ve already had this planned-”

“Did I stutter?” Mr. Harrington’s voice was ice. “You’re staying home tonight, and you’re getting this filthy Byers out of our foyer. Do you understand?” 

Steve remained silent. 

“I said, do you understand?”

“I do. But that doesn’t mean I’m gonna do what you tell me.” 

“This is MY HOUSE-”

“John, you wanna get outta here?”

“I’ve never been happier to say yes to that statement.” 

They turned towards the front door, Steve opening it grandly for Jonathan. 

“If you walk out those doors, you’ll never be allowed to walk through them again!” Mr. Harrington yelled. Steve looked back at his mother and father, his dad’s face bright red from yelling, his mother’s face wet from tears. “And you can forget calling yourself a Harrington.” 

Steve didn’t say anything. What else was there to say? He just looked to Jonathan and closed the door to his house and followed him back to his car. 

Steve rested his head on the car window and cried silently till the pulled into the Byers’s driveway.

“Stevie, I-”

“Please, don’t.” Steve said through his tears. 

“I was just going to ask if you wanted me to tell my mom. It’s like, 6:45. She’s home by now. Hop probably is, too, which means we’ll have to deal with both of them and my mom will be understanding but Hopper will probably want to go talk to them but I want you to stay with us for now, no offense, but your dad is a fucking dick and I can’t have you going back there-” 

Steve cut off Jonathan’s nervous rambling with a kiss, sealing his lips to Jonathan’s. He’s liked Jonathan for some time now, and he knows, or is at least 89 percent sure Jonathan likes him back, and Steve couldn’t come up with a better way to calm both of them down. Plus, Jonathan was kissing him back, so that must mean something. 

They parted, and Jonathan looked stunned. 

“I didn’t know you were-”

“Gay? Yep, yep, yep. Sorry I didn’t tell you before just...kissing you.” Steve laughed.

“Don’t worry about it.” Jonathan said, smiling. “It helped.”

“I’ve been wanting to do that for a long time now.” Steve let out a breath. “Was it okay?”

“It was amazing, Stevie, I mean, you’re amazing, you’re just-” Jonathan grinned. “You’re alright, hotshot.” 

They made the decision to let Jonathan do all the talking, because he was normally really good at talking his way out of things and explaining things clearly so there wasn’t any confusion between his mom and himself. 

 

“I’m home! Steve’s here, too!” 

“Awesome!” Came Dustin’s voice from Will’s room. As the boys slipped their shoes off (even though there have been monsters galore and windows shattered in the Byers household, they were still ones for cleanliness), the party came running out of Will’s room to see Steve and Jonathan. 

“Fuck.” Steve muttered. 

“It’s alright.” Jonathan whispered back to him. 

“Hey, we’re having pizza for dinner.” Max informed them. “Hopper’s here, everyone’s here to celebrate the ‘beginning of summer’ I guess, even though summer technically started weeks ago, the end of school doesn’t mark the beginning of summer, but the beginning of summer break.” She explained. 

“Hey, Dustin. Hey, guys.” Steve greeted them, trying his hardest to be cheerful, which is hard, having being kicked out of your house not even a half hour ago. 

“Hey, Will? Where’s Mom and Hop?”

“Kitchen, fixing up some vegetables.” Mike answered for him.

“Thanks, Lucas.” 

Jonathan followed Lucas’s directions and peered into the kitchen, where Hopper and his mother indeed were making vegetables. 

“Can I talk to you guys?” Joyce set down the spoon she was stirring the green beans with and turned her attention to Jonathan, as did Hopper.

“Something happened today-not related to the Upside Down but rather real kind of stuff? Just let me tell you guys everything before you ask questions or say anything, okay?”

They both nodded solemnly, sharing worried glances. 

“Steve and I went to his house today to pick up some of his stuff, ‘cause he planned on staying the night here again and wanted his toothbrush and comb and whatever. We got there and his parents wanted him to stay there ‘cause he hasn’t been there in a while. Long story short, Mr. Harrington kicked Steve out. For good. And we know, alright, this is irresponsible and stupid of us and I swear we didn’t mean it.” 

At this point, Jonathan was crying silently and felt a hand on his shoulder.

Steve.

“And we’re so so sorry for dragging you two into this mess.” Jonathan finished.

“Well, that’s a lot.” Hopper said, sighing and rubbing his forehead. 

“You’ll stay here.” Joyce said to Steve. “You and Jonathan are good friends, right? You can stay in his room. You’ll live here.” She said. 

“I can talk to your dad, son. We’ll get it sorted out.” Hopper offered.

“No!” Jonathan practically shouted. “I mean, Mr. Harrington isn’t the nicest guy you’ll meet.”

“Well, that’s pretty plain to see.”

“No, I mean,” Jonathan let out a long breath. “Remember how Steve used to get into a lot of scuffles?”

“You’re shitting me.” Hopper let his hands rest on the counter. “God, kid, why didn’t you tell us before?”

Steve gulped, letting his eyes trail to the floor.

“I’m sorry, sir.”

“You’re fine, I just- God, kid. Come here.” Joyce and Hopper wrapped Steve in a hug, holding him tightly. Hopper opened his eyes and motioned for Jonathan to join them, which he happily did. The four stood there in the kitchen for some time, just breathing in and out. 

“What are you guys doing?” Will asked. The four broke apart, and Joyce went back to check on her green beans.   
“Comforting.” Joyce answered. 

“The pizza came.” Will said.

“You didn’t bring it out here? Did you guys get sauce on the carpet?” Steve asked, going full babysitter mode.

“No, Jesus, Steve.” Will said, opening the fridge. “Where the hell’d all the juice go?”

“Language.” Steve and Joyce said in unison. The two shared a soft smile. 

“Me ‘n Stevie finished it off this morning.” Will rolled his eyes and went back out to the living room, where the sound of laughter and almost-shouting was flooding into the kitchen. Jonathan and Steve made their way back out into the living room, finding places on the couch. 

“I could get used to this.” Steve smiled at Jonathan. 

“Me too.” 

And hour or two later, Steve found himself in the kitchen, trying to get pizza sauce out of Dustin’s shirt. 

“You really like him, huh?” Dustin said, smirking.

“What?” Steve asked, still dabbing at Dustin;s shirt with soapy water on a paper towel.

“Jonathan. And you. You two.” Steve looked at Dustin, stunned. 

“How the fuck-”

“You don’t have to be a genius to see you two staring at each other with goddamn heart eyes. Keep it in your pants, Harrington.” Dustin laughed.

“It doesn’t like, freak you out?”

“What? Are you out of your mind? Mike and Will are gay and dating, you know that, right?”

“Of course.” Alas, no he did not.

“Steve, listen. You’re awesome. You tried your best to beat up Billy because he was going to try to fucking kill us, dude. You care about us. And we care about you, too. We want you to be happy just as much as you want us to be safe. If that means it’s with Jonathan, then that’s that.”

Steve laid down the paper towel and wrapped Dustin up in a hug. 

“You guys are some of the best things to ever happen to me. Thank you.” He whispered. 

And all was well.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey! I hope you enjoyed this little oneshot I wrote! It's been in my head for a while and it's nice to finally get it out there. My tumblr is oscars-mulaney if you'd like to see what I'm up to! Feel free to check out my other works as well. As always, please leave kudos and a comment if you enjoyed! Tell me what time it is where you are or something. I love hearing from you guys.


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